Air-conditioned tobacco barn



l Nov'. v1o, v1942. R E, Mgyo Re. 22,221

A1RcoNDiTIoNED TOBACCO BARN Original Filed Deo. 12, 1935 I5 Sheets-Sheet 1 ATTORN EYS.

Nov. 10. 1942. R. E MAYO l AIR-CONDITIONED TOBACCO BARN Original Filed Dec. 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 v E MINVENTOR ATToRN EYS.

WITNESS LNov. 10, 1942. R E. MAYO Re 22,221

' AIR-coNnITIoNEn 'romeno BARN original Filed Dec. 12,v 1955 s Sheets-sheet :s

WITNESS y I ATTORNEYS Ressued Nov. 10, 1942 UNITED STATE AIR-CONDITIONED 'roaoco BARN Reubin E. Mayo, Snow Hill, N. C. original No. 2,090,633, dated August 24, '1937, l.

Serial No. 54,135, December 12, 1935. Application for reissue August 14, 1939, `Serial No.

about the tobacco and exhausting through the'l roof of the building, said air being controlled both at the intake and exhaust, so that the air within the building will be conditioned properly to bring about the best curing results and reduce tobacco sweating and the damages to tobacco incident thereto.

with these and other objects in view, uns '1nvention consists in certain novel features of construction, combination and arrangement of parts tov be hereinafter more fully described and claimed.

.For a complete understanding of my invention, reference is to be had to the following description and accompanying drawings, in which Figure 1 is a vertical sectional View showing a tobacco curing house or barn constructed in accordance with 'my invention.

Figure 2 is a longitudinal sectional view illustrating the same.

Figure 3 is a horizontal sectional view showing the arrangement of the heating means.

Figure 4 is a fragmentary perspective view, partly in section, showing one of the heating mediums.

Figure 5 is a fragmentary sectional view showing the air intake of the heating means.

Figure 6 isa-fragmentaryvertical sectional view showing the means of controlling the exhaust of air from the building.

Figure "I is a detail view showing one of the ventilators arranged in the end walls of the building.

Figure 8 is a fragmentary sectional view showing the fuel supply means for the heating means.

Figure 9 is a fragmentary perspective view showing means of mounting one of the temporary racks.

Referrin in detail to the drawings; the numeral I in 'cates in entirety a building or barn especially adapted for the curing of tobacco and is so constructed that air may be regulated through the interior thereof and artificially heated to efficiently and rapidly cure the tobacco. The building or barn includes side and end walls 2 and 3 with a gable-type roof 4 having ventilat- 55 6 Claims. (Cl. 263-43) ing openings 5 controlled by a ventilator 6. One of the end walls 3 has a doorway 1 closed by a. hinged door 8, and both end walls adjacent the roof Il have Ventilating openings 9 controlled vby slidable ventilators I0 operated by flexible elements II trained over pulleys I2. The flexible elements extend Within reach of a person on thev ground, so that the ventilators Ill may be raised or lowered for varying the size of the ventilator openings 9.

Arranged Within the upper portion of the building or barnvl is a plurality of superimposed permanent racks I3 consisting of bars arranged to extendvboth transversely and` longitudinally of the building. The bars of the racks are fastened in any suitable way to the Walls of the building. The lowermost rack is spaced a desired distance from the floor to give head room within the building.

A center aisle I4 extends from the doorway 'i and is defined by vertical members I5 extending from the floor to the lowermost rack I3. The walls of the building opposite to the members I5 have secured thereto supporting strips or cleats I6 having notches I1 to receive removable racks IB in the form of bars. The members I5 are each of sectional formation joined together, as

shown at I9, deiningbetween each section a` slot 20. The slots 2D align horizontally with the notches I1 of the supporting strip so that the racks IB may be slid through the slots 20 into the notches I1. The temporary racks are employed when bringing tobacco into the building by way of the doorway l, the workers placing the tobacco onto the temporary racks where the tobacco can be obtained by other persons standing heating means is clearly shown in Figure 3, and

each means is in the form of a liquid fuel stove having a plurality of open-top burners 23 positioned within a casing 24 the top of which is open. `Burners of this kind may be found upon the market employed for various purposes, said burners being supplied with fuel from a Iuel feed means 25 ofa conventional construction, and which includes a pipe 26leading to the burners and equipped with control valves,'each having a control medium 21. The heating means supply means 25, and the opposite end ofthe,x

pipe has a union or coupling 28 for connecting said pipe to a feed pipe '29 extending about the interior of the building. The feed pipe at one end extends through a wall of the building and connects to a reservoir 30. The reservoir- 30 is` mounted on a suitable stand 3| exteriorly of sition.

The pairs oflinks assume angularly related positions relative to each other when the plates 4| contact th'e roof, and when actuated by the 4fiexibleelements 44 move into parallelism so as to support the plates 4| in ventilator opening po- I claim: 1. A tobacco curing barn including an enclosure provided with vertically disposed side and end walls, and a roof and a doorway in one of.

y -the end walls, a tobacco rack supported by the the building, and also the stand supports a barrel of fuel oil 32. Leading from the barrel to the reservoir 30 is a pipe 33 equipped with a float controlled valve 34. The loaticontrolled valve is arranged in the reservoir 30 and regulates the amount of oil or fuel in the reservoir. By this arrangement as the fuel in the reservoir is consumed by the heating means, it is` replenished automatically from the barrel 32. .The pipe 33 is removable from the barrel 32, so that when the barrel is exhausted, another barrel may be substituted therefor and connected with the pipe 33. i

Each heating means 22 or the casing 24 thereof has upstanding arms 35 for supporting a hood 36 over the burners 23 and spaced from thecasing 24. Bolts are secured to the hood 36 and extend through the arms 35 and have threaded thereto wing nuts 31, which permit theadjustment of the hood 36 to regulate the ,passing of p the heat upwardly in the building from the burn- -are lighted andthe air taken in from the exwalls above said doorway, rows of vertically disposed` members arranged below the rack and delining a ,center aisle extendingfrom thel doorway, and each member consisting of connected spaced sections defining slots, supporting strips secured to walls of the enclosure and arranged in horizontal alignment with the slots, rack bars 1 extending through the slots into engagement with the. supporting strips on which tobacco may be temporarily placed prior tobeing positioned on the tobacco rack, heating devices located in the enclosure between the walls thereof and the aisle, and Ventilating meansin the roof above the aisle.

2. An air conditioned tobacco curing barn including vertically disposed side walls and a roof,` at least one of said side wallshaving a doorway therein. said barnhaving a Ventilating opening at its roof, tobacco racks` within the barn, and air conditioning units within the barn, each comprising a casing, heating means ofv the open flame type within the casing, a hood overlying the casing and vertically spaced therefrom, means for supporting the. hood in said relation, and an air intake pipe opening into the space L above the heating means and extending through terior of the building by way of thepipes 38 is artificially heated, conditioning said air so as to bring about rapid and efficient curing of the tobacco during the passing upwardly of the 4heated air to the Ventilating openings 5 and 9.

The ventilator 6 includes hingedly mounted plates 4| movable towards and from the roof for opening and closing the Ventilating openings 5. The plates 4|y are pivotally connected to links 42. The links are arranged in pairs and the links of each pair are pivotally connected and have connectedthereto springs 43 acting to urge the plates 4| into engagement with the roof.`

Connected to the pairs of links are flexible elements 44 depending in reach of a person on the ground, so that the plates 4| may be swung away from the roof to open the Ventilating openings 5.

a side wall of the barn to receive fresh air. whereby fresh air from the outside will be mixed in said hoodwith the heated gases f-rom the burner and 'i willthereby be conditioned before passing upwardly into the barn.

3. An air conditioned tobacco curing barn according to claim 2 in which the opening of said air intake pipe outsideof said building is at a lower level than the opening of said pipe above said heating means.

v 4. An air conditioned tobacco curing barn according to claim 2 in which said means for supporting the hood permits its adjustment to various inclinations.

5. An air` conditioned tobacco curing bar'n according'to claim 2 in which said air intake pipe is provided with means for variably controlling the iiow of air therethrough.

6. An air conditioned'tobacco curing barn acy cording to claim 2 which, includes means for variably controlling Y the flow through said ventilating opening at its roof.

' 'REUBIN E. MAYO. 

